Ultrasonic piezotome surgery: is it a benefit for our patients and does it extend surgery time? A retrospective comparative study on the removal of 100 impacted mandibular 3rd molars

Angelo Troedhan, Andreas Kurrek, Marcel Wainwright
DOI: 10.4236/ojst.2011.14027                

Abstract

Aim of the study was to evaluate if there is a constant and significant reduction in traumaticity when mas- sively traumatic oral surgical procedures such as the removal of third molars are conducted with only ul- trasonic surgical devices (Piezotomes) expressed in a reduction of postsurgical pain and swelling on the patient’s side since such clinical experiences by the authors suggested this. Since oral surgeons criticize a higher time consumption for surgeries with Piezoto- mes also the objective time consumption was evalu- ated and compared to the traditional methods. Mate- rial and Methods: 56 female and male patients were selected that already underwent a removal of an im- pacted third mandibular molar on one side with rota- ry instruments by bone destructive burring with a still persisting comparable third mandibular molar on the contralateral side complaining about recur- rent pain episodes and were already documented for pain and swelling before. The ultrasonic surgical re- moval with the Piezotome was conducted with a buc- cal osteotomy of the compacta lateral to the impacted third molar, preservation of the resected compacta in saline solution, removal of the third molar by single or multiple dentotomy and full anatomical restitution of the surgical site with the preserved buccal com- pacta. The swelling was documented by kephalome- try 24/48/72 hours and 1 week post surgery, the pain index by the total consumption of ibuprofen-400 mg—tablets. Lesions of the mandible nerve were documented. Netto surgery time was taken from the first incision to the last suture of the procedure. Re-sults: 6 patients had to be excluded from evaluation due to incomplete post surgical follow up. A signify-cant (***, p > 0.999) decrease in pain and swelling of 50% was detected both for the parameters swelling and pain with Piezotome-surgery. No lesions of the mandible nerve were detected with Piezotome sur- gery whereas surgery with rotary instruments re- sulted in 16% hypesthesia at least up to one week. Although netto surgery time was approximately 50% longer when done with the Piezotome at the begin-ning the time consumption normalized with the growing experience of the surgeons back to the time schedule when surgery was performed with rotary instruments revealing no significant differences (-, p < 0.73). Conclusions: The results of this retrospective study suggest that Piezotome-surgery is superior in atraumaticity and soft-tissue safety compared to tra- ditional procedures with burs and grants the patients significantly less post surgical pain and swelling. Al- though—as it is with all new surgical tools and pro- tocols—surgery time is longer at the beginning when purely working with ultrasonic surgical devices time consumption reduces to normal values after a learn- ing curve.

Keywords

Ultrasonic Surgery; Piezotome; Rotating Instruments; Post Surgical Swelling; Post Surgical Pain; Impacted Mandibular Third Molars; Osteotomy

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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